Chapter Six: "Stars Apart"
Staff Sergeant Zyber Lang, United States Air Force **Security Team Leader, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 4 - Armoury *Febuary 22nd, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 =^=Off-World team, please assemble at the docking bay ASAP. We are preparing to board.=^= Zyber looked up as the comn system went off. He looked a Kurt and took a small breath, "Is that us? Or more importantly, Is that me?" Zyber asked in an odd manner. Hmm maybe, I'll get some action in this mission too! Hopefully it's not as boring at some of SG-11's missions were. ---- *Captain Lucas Bridger, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 03 - Medical Bay *Febuary 23rd, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 =^= Off-World team, please assemble at the docking bay ASAP. We are preparing to board. =^= Looking down at what he had been working on, Lucas was glad that he had gotten the Infirmary set up when he had; there being no time now. Pushing off from the counter he turned and left the Infirmary, taking the lift down to the docking bay. Upon arrival he saw the CO in the bay; no one else from the off world team had arrived. "Ma'am." Lucas greeted as he headed for the Jumper. ---- *Gunnery Sergeant Kurt Martin, United States Marine Corps **Deputy Chief Security Officer, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 04 - Armoury *Febuary 26th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 "Is that us? Or more importantly, Is that me?" Zyber asked in an odd manner. Kurt turned his head to look at him and said, "I would say that it's just you, because if the Chief goes I'll probably have to stay behind." Kurt looked around before turning back to the door, "Anyway, we should get down to the bay so that we can find out Kurt said as he started to stride back towards the door. ---- *Commander James Colbert, United States Navy **Executive Officer, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 02 - James Coblert's Quarters *Febuary 26th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 James ran back to his quarters as fast as he could and threw on some thermals underneath his Navy Working Uniform. He then started jogging to the Armoury, to collect his CQBR rifle, 8 magazines, a P226 pistol with 2 magazines, 3 fragmentation grenades, 2 smoke grenades and some blocks of C4. While packing the magazines and equipment into his vest, he double timed it to the docking bay. Noticing the CO already there, he put his blue digital camouflage helmet on and nodded "Ma'am." he started tapping the jumper, "Who's gonna be flying her?" ---- *Staff Sergeant Zyber Lang, United States Air Force **Security Team Leader, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 04 - Armoury *Febuary 27th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 "I would say that it's just you, because if the Chief goes I'll probably have to stay behind." Kurt Stated Zyber looked around and said, "Very well sir, Wish me luck!" Zyber said running down the hall to the armory, his gun clacking the whole way there. Zyber then grabbing another M9, and an FN-P90 with three extra clips, along with a few gernades then carried on putting on his Vest and clipping his 90 to his chest he ran down to the docking bay looking at the CO, and XO. "Who's gonna be flying her?" Zyber walked in hearing this and spoke up, "Zyber Lang reporting as orderd." ---- *Captain Tobias Macqueen, United States Army **Chief Security Officer, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 06 - Flight Deck *Febuary 28th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 Tobias headed to the docking bay as it was instructed. He picked as many man as he was asked from the security members. As far as talking to the doctor went he had no time to do that as he had to make sure that he had everything he possibly needed. Tobias was excited and a bit worried about the mission because he never went on mission like this before. ---- *Captain Raiden McCallister, United States Air Force **Chief Scientist, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 06 - Flight Deck *March 2nd, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 Raiden was among the last on the Jumper. He carried a light pack. He knew it was going to be too cold to carry a data pad so he just hoped they wouldn't need to record a lot of data. Even being Alaskan, this planet seemed QUITE cold. Well, this should be interesting, he thought to himself as he stepped onto the funny looking spacecraft known as the Jumper. Raiden had never been in one of these before, thus he would definitely be in for a surprise. He knew Sadie had flown these a lot when she first joined the Tria, but never had many chances to ride in one himself. Huffing a brief sigh, Raiden sat down in the middle bench on the left side and plopped his pack down on the floor, adjusting the rest of his winter gear before getting into a comfortable position. ---- *Commander James Colbert, United States Navy **Executive Officer, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 06 - Flight Deck *March 7th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 James hopped over the threshold of the jumper door and looked round. Heaven. He sat down in the pilot seat and grabbed the controls of the jumper, which caused the jumper to light up and start a humming sound. He turned round "Everyone onboard?!" After a few nods from around the craft, he pressed the communication radio "Bridge, this is Aegis One, requesting permission for take off." "Roger Aegis One, clear for take off." He couldn't help but pull a smirk across his face, as he slowly raised the craft from the ground, and shot forward to the planet. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Christene Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, USS Aegis **Puddle Jumper "Aegis One" *March 7th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 Christene gripped her seat as the Jumper inertia slammed her back into her seat--the co pilot's seat, next to Colbert. "Sorry, Commander, could have taken the helm," She said, softly. In fact, she preferred to, but her assistance in preparing the ship took far too long. "I'll keep an eye on our rear, then..." She murmured, pulling up a rear-view image of the ship. "Beautiful," She murmured. The Protector-class ship, in all its glory, reminded her so very much of the first time she'd worked on the Pillar of Dawn. Was the Aegis going to be just as precious...? Christene leaned back, sighing softly, running the people on board through her head. James Colbert, obviously, her XO. Raiden McCallister, Chief of Science. Tobias Macqueen, Zyb-- She stopped mid-thought, eyes widening as she stared at the rear-view. "Commander, turn back now!" Outside the USS Aegis The two lights seen outside of FTL not an hour ago receded back into normal space, revealing a massive pod. Looking not too different from a sea urchin, the bronze ship had spikes about it, the only open spot at its front section, where a small viewing screen looked out towards the Aegis. The Aegis was dwarfed by this mammoth urchin, the lights upon the tips of its spikes turning to focus onto the Aegis. The spikes began to fold forwards upon the ship, targeting them directly at the Aegis. A supersonic wave of communication began to rivet from the ship... Which began to destroy communications aboard the Aegis, the people aboard clearly able to hear the deep noise, similar to a whale call, but synthesized and somehow violent. The turbulence created, apart from destroying the Aegis's communications, sent the Aegis 1 Jumper spiraling out of control towards the planet, the Aegis itself being severely rocked. ---- *Gunnery Sergeant Kurt Martin, United States Marine Corps **Deputy Chief Security Officer, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 01 - Corridor *March 7th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 Kurt was walking down a corridor on deck one when the ship started to rock from side to side. He was thrown to the left then back to the right where he got a grip on a panel sticking out of the wall. Kurt then started to use the motion of the ship to make his way to the bridge of the ship. He managed to get to the door to the bridge and get inside fairly quickly. When he got there he grabbed hold of the commanders chair and called out to anybody who could hear him, "What the hell's happening?" ---- *''Chief Petty Officer Adelaide Hawk, Royal Australian Navy (PCNPC)'' **''Mechanical Engineer, USS Aegis'' **''USS Aegis / Deck 01 - Corridor'' *Captain Raiden McCallister, United States Air Force **Chief Scientist, USS Aegis **Puddle Jumper "Aegis One" *March 9th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 As the turbulence began to increase, Adelaide made her way towards the bridge to get a better view of what might be causing this uncomfortable ride in space. It could be a number of things, but it was getting a bit harder to walk. If she had been a flight attendant at one point in time, perhaps it might have been a little easier. "How do flight attendants DO this?" she grumbled, feeling awkward in her steps as she swayed to the right with another lurch. The lurches became a bit more violent after a few moments, and the ship 'rolled' to the left upon its horizontal axis, which caused Adel to slide along the smooth floor to the left towards the bridge. "Woaaah." Raiden McCallister Alas, Raiden didn't have much time to react to the situation. They were promptly headed towards the planet when Etearna suddenly ordered they turn around, yet as they did so, a surprise suddenly looped upon them. They were greeted with impressive and intimidating turbulence. He was tossed against the wall and then forward onto the floor, unable to hold himself in place as the Jumper began to move in an erratic fashion towards their intended destination. "N-not good!" Was all he managed to say before he felt the wind get knocked out of him - though luckily, he had managed to not loose conscience! ---- *Captain Lucas Bridger, United States Air Force **Chief Medical Officer, USS Aegis **Puddle Jumper "Aegis One" *March 9th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 Lucas hadn't been paying that much attention to what was going on. What was the point? They were headed to the planet; no problems had been reported and then...what?! Etearna had barked, ordering that the shuttle be turned around. Seconds later the Jumper was being rocked violently; more like flying in a violent circle (or so it seemed), obviously out of control. The Jumper kept bucking. No matter how hard Lucas tried to hold himself steady, or at least in his seat it was impossible. It was like being on a roller coaster. One moment his full weight was against the wall, safely secured in to his seat by his own weight and the outside forces and then that changed, flinging him forward out of the chair and on to the floor. Protecting his head was now the most important thing until the shuttle was either brought under control or crashed... one of the two... preferably the former. Covering his head with his arms, Lucas was determined to try and wait this out. He kept his ears open, listening for any signs of distress. He didn't have to wait long before there was a thump on the ground. Looking up Lucas saw that Captain McCallister had hit the deck. "CAPTAIN, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Lucas yelled over the din; unable to crawl over to the Captain due to the still erratic movements of the Jumper. ---- *Captain Raiden McCallister, United States Air Force **Chief Scientist, USS Aegis **Puddle Jumper "Aegis One" *March 9th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 Luckily, Raiden had managed to stop his fall with both hands and his knees. The impact stung just a tad. "Ngggh." Raiden half groaned half growled an initial response as he felt himself pressed against the lower half of the benches they were all perched upon as the shuttle rocked once again. Simply put, the inertia had been a bit stronger than he'd expected, and this was his first time flying in one of these cylindrical things. He wasn't completely unconscious, and it was a plus he hadn't hit his head on the actual throw. However, he had initially been pressed hard against his own seat, which may have induced a minor concussion regardless. "I'm n-not used to these things." he said, glancing over at Lucas cross-eyed. For the most part, he was able to stay in the middle of the Jumper in the passenger area until it rocked again, forcing him back towards his seat. Raiden looked beyond him with an increasingly worried expression on his face as the icy planet loomed closer at an alarming rate. "Um, I can't remember if this thing has good crash test ratings," he said with a dash of mild sarcasm, a trait which he and his brother shared. Right, now that I have a bit more control, time to assume the crash landing position! Raiden inwardly told himself as he managed to get himself in his seat again before the Jumper suddenly lurched again. "I think I'll be okay, Cap'n." Raiden said to the chief medic. Raiden curled himself to his knees as the others were doing (or, most of them presumably), his hands covering his head. What a way to experience a first ride in a Jumper! ---- *Sergeant Major Eli Aarons, Israeli Air Force **Chief of the Boat, USS Aegis **USS Aegis / Deck 01 - Bridge *March 11th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 Eli sat in the center seat, the large object had appeared on screens a few moments before. He ordered them to hail the object, and had gotten no response. When he gave the order to hail the Jumper the Ops Manager said comms were down. "What do you mean down?" He asked. "Not even down as much as gone, all external communications systems are offline, the systems seemed to have overloaded or something." The women said. Then the ship began to rumbled, quickly becoming violent shaking. =/\= All hands to combat station, set condition one. =/\= "Tactical raise shields and bring the Asgard beam weapon online." "What the hell's happening?" "I don't know Sergeant but I intend to find out." The Israeli replied. "Gunner, have one of the main rail guns prepare to fire a warning shot, 250 meters in front of, whatever that is." Protocol be damned they had attempted communications and whatever the hell this thing was doing, he was considering it hostile. ---- *Lieutenant Colonel Christene Etearna, United States Air Force **Commanding Officer, USS Aegis **Puddle Jumper "Aegis One" *March 13th, 2011 **January 30th, 2024 Christene grabbed Raiden, steeling herself as the jumper rocked, keeping his head tucked in one of her arms as she slowly let him into Lucas's hands. "Captain, I need you to take care of the oth--Frak!" She roared, as the ship groaned and twisted violently. Something more seemed to be happening. Christene grabbed the pilot's chair, and leaned back, her head beginning to hurt with all the shaking. She placed her hands upon the dash, and put all of her willpower forth... The ship's twisting turned into a gentle creaking... though everyone on board would probably get the idea that the jumper couldn't handle this for too long. Christene shot them forwards towards the planet, as a final ripple of energy sent the jumper flying, Christene barely able to keep the spinning in check as they began to enter the atmosphere... Alien Ship The ship seemed to ignore the spiraling of the helpless Jumper, its attention upon the Aegis. The spines of the ship shot forwards, encircling the Aegis at all angles, as it began to draw the Aegis in. The small, pill-shaped section of the ship, now uncovered by spines, began to unfold like a flower, revealing twisting and churning blades of immense size that would smash the ship up, and potentially blow up the entire ship. This thing was a Devourer. And should the Aegis let it capture them, it would not be so slow a death as one might hope--and this thing was not drawing them in slowly. Christene Etearna Christene groaned... Where the hell was she? Opening her eyes, she looked up through the windshield. She looked behind her. "Everyone alive? We've touched down upon the planet..." That she'd probably been knocked out was assured. It couldn't have been an easy landing, and the strain of willpower perhaps too much. Stars Apart Stars Apart